Pages

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Guava Cake

Guava Cake

My dad celebrated his 59th birthday this weekend and I came across this Guava Cake recipe that I knew would be perfect! My dad's family is originally from Hawaii (though we're not native Hawaiian) so part of his heart lives in San Francisco where he grew up and another part of his heart lives in Hawaii. We don't really have any Hawiian food here in Albuquerque, so we don't usually get our hands on Hawiian grub very often. Whenever we go out of town, my dad (and now my brother, ha!) always try to find an L&L Hawaiian BBQ restaurant to get their fix.

My dad always asks for malasadas, ever since one of my aunts gave me a family recipe, but I have yet to venture out and make it. There's something about yeast and deep-frying that scare the heck out of me. My dad also has a cheat version using canned biscuits that he used to make when I was little, which is easier but I still haven't made that version either. One of these days I will make both!

In the meantime, I found this great Guava Cake recipe that is delicious and wonderful! I got this recipe from the Polynesian Kitchen and made only minor adjustments. I poked holes on the top of the cooled cake and then drizzled guava juice on top of the cake to add a little more pronounced guava flavor. I used about half a cup of juice, but you can add less or more to your liking-- just be sure not to add too much juice to where it becomes soggy. Also, there are several types of guava juice and some may not be pink in color, so if you want that pretty pink color, feel free to add a couple drops of pink food coloring to the glaze. I couldn't find the guava juice that I normally buy at the supermarket (I like Kern's), so I bought Jumex (which wasn't pink) so I added pink food coloring to the glaze.

This cake got the approval from everyone in my family! I ate three slices-- one before while I was taking pictures (the perks of a food blog!) and another two at family dinner. :-) I think this recipe will be around for awhile and I'm already thinking of some different ways to adapt the cake. Can you say sweetened condensed milk? :-)

For the cake:
1 package yellow or strawberry cake mix (I used strawberry)
1 c. guava juice (replace the amount of water called for the package with guava juice-- this varies depending on the brand, so just adjust it accordingly)
1/2 c. vegetable oil (or however much is asked for on the box)
3 eggs (or how many is asked for on the box)
1/2 c. guava juice (this is for drizzling on top of cooled cake for extra guava flavor!)

Cake:
Bake cake according to package directions, substituting guava juice for water. I used a 9x13 pan for this recipe. Once cake is cooled, poke holes on top of the cake with a fork. Drizzle with guava juice and set aside to let the juice seep into the cake.

Cream cheese mixture
In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with hand mixer until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla and beat in. Slowly fold in the Cool Whip and refrigerate until ready to use. (I added a couple of tablespoons of guava juice to the mixture as well. You can do this as well, but it didn't add much guava flavor.)

Guava glaze:
In a medium sauce pan, bring the 2 cups guava juice and sugar to a boil. Make a paste out of the cornstarch and a small amount of water. Once the guava and sugar are boiling, remove saucepan from heat and stir in the cornstarch mixture. Return to heat and bring back to a boil and boil for one minute. Add a couple drops of pink food coloring. (Some types of guava juice aren't pink in color, so if you'd like to get the pink color, you can definitely add some pink food coloring to get that pretty pink guava color. I used "soft pink" from AmeriColor.) Cool in refrigerator.

To assemble cooled cake:
Thickly ice the cake with the cream cheese mixture. (Make sure there's enough room on the top for the guava glaze-- if you don't think there will be enough room, reduce the amount of the cream cheese mixture so that there's room for the glaze.) Glaze the top of the cake with guava gel. Refrigerate until ready to serve

Made it for Easter and my sisters were fighting over it! We are from Hawaii and it has been forever since we had guava chiffon cake...this was the next best thing! Thank you SOOOO much for the recipe!One sister is going to try to adopt the recipe for coconut and the other for lilikoi (passion fruit) cake.

I've made this recipe a half dozen times and it's always amazing! I double the frosting amount and bake it in 2 spring form cake pans so I can stack them and put frosting between the layers, but I always get rants and raves about how fantastic it is. This recipe is a winner!!

My daughter was born and raised in Hawaii and lives in Texas now. All she wanted for her birthday was a guava chiffon cake like she had every year for her birthday growing up. This recipe was so much easier than the others I looked for but decided to give it a try. Followed recipe as given but left sugar out of glaze. We felt like we were home this cake is so delicious, it will be our go to recipe. Thank you so much!!!!!

I'm from Miami, FL. My family and my husband's family is Cuban, and there are Cuban pastries and desserts with the Guava + Cream Cheese combo. I bought a brick of guava paste instead of using juice, they are abundant at grocery stores (people will get a slice of guava paste and a slice of cream cheese and eat it on a Cuban cracker as a dessert or snack). I just melted the guava paste in the microwave for 45 seconds and it went from a solid to liquid state, and then mixed it with water. Worked like a charm.